About

Welcome

Welcome to SQL Snippets. My name is Joe Fuda and I created this web site with a simple mission in mind -- to help database programmers like myself quickly write effective code. To accomplish this mission SQL Snippets approaches things a little different from what you may be used to.

First, to twist a well known adage, SQL Snippets believes "an example tells a thousand words." Its tutorials rely heavily on sample output and sample code (aka "snippets") and less so on verbiage because, let's face it, English is not the best tool for communicating logical concepts rigorously. Programming languages are. Not every Oracle programmer speaks English, but we all speak SQL.

Second, SQL Snippets is designed from the start to be a web-centric product. Paper-based books have their place but a web site can give you information that is free, searchable, hyperlinked, always available, current, and interactive. Not only that, but you can easily follow along with programming examples by cutting and pasting the sample code from your browser into your favourite test system as you read each tutorial.

Third, the snippets on this site are designed so you can play with them*. Before we could read and write we all instinctively learned through play. We imitated what we saw around us, tested boundaries, and experimented with variations of a theme. Thinking "out of the box" came naturally and it was fun. Every tutorial in SQL Snippets makes this easy to do with Setup and Cleanup sections for creating and dropping test data, readable formatting, and cut-and-paste ready code with no annoying line numbers to edit out before running.